The grocery shut down at the end of 2023. Read more about that here.
Thanks to longtime East Village resident Dana Della Valle for the photo.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Wednesday's parting shot
Kestrel-eye view of Tompkins Square Park
(And one more fire-escape shot and we will have a trends piece!)
Fans of El Primo Red Tacos can soon pig out at Tacos El Porky
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
After four months in business, the Miami-based El Primo Red Tacos will change over to its sister restaurant, Tacos El Porky, in the coming weeks.
We hadn't seen El Primo open lately. Management confirmed the El Porky switcheroo in an Instagram message.
The new quick-serve establishment specializes in tacos al pastor. You can find their menu here.
The new quick-serve establishment specializes in tacos al pastor. You can find their menu here.El Primo Red Tacos, with its birria tacos, debuted on Sept. 7.
Chicken & the Egg closes; taqueria in the works for the space
Signage notes the new business coming soon: Dear Rufino Taqueria...
We're not sure who's behind the new establishment... and if the closure also impacts Sincerely, Ophelia, the speakeasy in the back.
The fried chicken sandwich restaurant-speakeasy combo opened in August 2022.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Today in discarded deer taxidermy mounts on 2nd Avenue
Fan signage for Lucy's
As first reported yesterday, someone painted over the Lucy's signage at the bar between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. Worse, though, the building recently sold, and the new landlord wants a rent increase that Lucy can't afford. Read more here.
Updated 5:30 p.m.: Stacie Joy reports someone already removed Lola's sign.
At last a sidewalk bridge along 280 E. Houston St., site of a new 12-story building
Photos by Salim
The site of an incoming 12-story residential building has reached the next phase at 280 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Workers have finally erected a sidewalk bridge to keep pedestrians safe(r). In the previous iteration, pedestrians and various cyclists (e-bikes, scooters, etc.) had to share the roadway.
However, in creating the new walkway, workers entombed this tree near Avenue B in concrete ... might as well just chop it down now ...
To recap: The new development will contain 224,809 square feet of space — for residential, commercial and community use. The residential portion will total 211,028 square feet for 157 apartments, per DOB records. The retail section will feature 12,000 square feet, while the community facility is 1,300 square feet.
Reports: Man slashed after asking man to stop urinating on car along 14th Street at 1st Avenue
According to police and media reports, the victim works as a caretaker at Immaculate Conception Church, where the suspect was also trying to use a wall as a urinal. The two men got into an argument. The unidentified suspect returned just after 5 and slashed the church worker while he was helping a woman in a wheelchair, according to the Post.
The victim, identified as 54-year-John Mach, was taken by EMS to Mount Sinai Beth Israel. He needed 16 stitches to close the gash on his neck. (ABC 7 has an interview with Mach here.)
Police said that the suspect is a regular in the area, "usually pushing a cart."
Anyone with information about the incident can contact the NYPD through the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
There have been ongoing concerns about drug use/sales and general quality-of-life issues along 14th Street and First Avenue.
Signage alert: Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao on St. Mark's Place
The Michelin-recommended soup-dumpling specialists first opened in Flushing in 2006... and later expanded with restaurants in Koreatown as well as in New Jersey and Long Island.
You can check out their menu here.
Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao takes over the space from April 2023 casualty Boxed To-Go (or BT), which offered bento boxes.
The address also provided a brief but memorable stint in EV musical history from 1995-1999 as Coney Island High.
Monday, January 22, 2024
Why we may have seen the last of longtime East Village bar Lucy's
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
We may have seen the last of a great East Village bar, the time capsule that is Lucy's (aka Blanche's Lucy's Tavern), at 135 Avenue A. (Updated Feb. 5 here.)
In late November (our story here), the Department of Health temporarily closed the decades-spanning bar between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. According to DOH records: "Food Protection Certificate (FPC) not held by manager or supervisor of food operations."
Longtime proprietor Ludwika "Lucy" Mickevicius said at the time that she thought her bookkeeper had paid the previous fine and had the proper paperwork on file. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
In addition, the bar's liquor license expired at the end of November.
In a phone call on Saturday, Lucy said that she had the liquor license, though there is a much bigger problem — she has no lease.
The two buildings at 135-137 Avenue A recently sold for $19.1 million.
Lucy had been on a month-to-month lease with the previous landlord, with whom she enjoyed a good business relationship.
The new owner — an LLC with a Brooklyn address — now wants $25,000 a month in rent.
Lucy reports she is in talks with the new landlord but cannot afford to pay the increased rent.
She isn't overwhelmingly optimistic and says the bar may be forced to close permanently.
And in an ominous development, someone blacked out the hand-painted Lucy's sign above the entrance (see top photo). Last fall, someone crossed out the name with a red paint line, though that was mostly seen as shenanigans/vandalism.
As for her sign, Lucy didn't have any answers. "We talking, you know, it's New York; what can you do?"
We agreed to talk again in a few days or a week and see if there are any developments and hopes of setting foot in this bar again for a drink and game of pool.
Tompkins Square Park remains without restrooms for public use
With reporting by Stacie Joy
Sources tell us that there are no plans for new ones and that the old porta-potties were constantly trashed and not really the most fun things to use. So, the thinking is, Why replace them with more only to meet the same fate?
A contact at the Parks Department provided us with a porta-potty-worthy comment: "We don't know anything. No one tells us shit."
As previously reported, the restrooms in the Tompkins Square Park field house are closed due to an 18-month (or so) renovation that began last May. The porta potties arrived around the same time ... before an August relocation.
The temporary toilet situation has caused a stink from the get-go.
In February 2023, a Parks official explained that temporary toilets were not part of the contract "and cannot be supplied during construction." The alternative for public use during this period: The restrooms at the McKinley Playground on Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue adjacent to P.S. 63/the Neighborhood School — roughly a seven-minute walk.
By March 2023, though, Community Board 3 noted that porta potties would be on-site after all.
According to the Parks Department website, work at the field house is 27% complete, with an anticipated wrap-up date of September 2024.
For now, the 10.5-acre public park doesn't have any restroom facilities, which, predictably, has caused an uptick in sightings of (and discovery of afterward of) public urination and defecation from everyone from TSP regulars to asylum seekers waiting near St. Brigid on Seventh Street and Avenue B.
We're told that the McKinley Playground is the default public loo, though there isn't any signage anywhere to inform people of that development.
If the park remains porta-potty free, the situation will only get more fragrant this spring and summer as people will spend more time here with concerts and other warmer-weather social activities, from children's birthday parties to White Claw blanket ragers on the main lawn.
Apple Bank is branching out — and away — from 2nd Avenue
Apple had been here since 2013, taking over from Emigrant Savings Bank.
The address had a long history of various theaters and clubs... most notably the Fillmore East.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (now Village Preservation) and Two Boots placed the memorial here in the fall of 2014 to honor the venue that helped launch some of the biggest names in music from 1968 to 1971.
Apple is not the only bank making moves on Second Avenue. Bank of America is clearing out of its home on the NE corner of Fourth Street for a new space on the NW corner of Seventh Street.
And Apple's departure will make three consecutive vacant spaces here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street, joining Mighty Quinn's and New Yorkers Foodmarket...
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Week in Grieview
• Observations on the growing humanitarian crisis with asylum seekers in the East Village (Tuesday)
• A bench in honor of the 'Birdman' of Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)
• Celebrating the life and spirit of John Crellin, aka 'Architect John' (Friday)
• ICYMI: After 26 years, Gregg Singer sells the former P.S. 64 for $57.1 million (Tuesday)
• The Veselka documentary, narrated by David Duchovny, opens at the Village East on Feb. 23 (Friday)
• A look at the under-renovation Ben's Deli on Avenue B (Wednesday)
• Peter Hujar will get his 'Day' in upcoming film (Sunday)
• Openings: Tina's Cuban Cuisine on 14th Street (Wednesday)
• On Astor Place, Raising Cane's is raising funds for Harvey Milk High School (Thursday)
• St. Marks Pizzeria (the former Funzi's) has not been open lately (Thursday)
• Another conversation on music and music writing at the Tompkins Square Library branch (Saturday)
• Up early with a giant statue of Kid Cudi on the East River (Monday)
• What's coming to the former Mochinut space on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)
• Signage alert: Kaliiva, a cannabis dispensary for Avenue B (Wednesday)
... and we may have found the just-right location for the first-ever EVG ad ... here on Avenue A at St. Mark's Place...
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Openings: Nuovo York Pizza on 9th Street
Hours today: Noon to 6 p.m.
There are some specials, like two cheese slices and a can of soda for $7. Find the menu here.
This space had been vacant since Toasted Deli went dark at the end of 2022 after nearly 18 months in business.
Sunday's opening shot
Saturday, January 20, 2024
EVG Etc. Speaking out against closing Mount Sinai Beth Israel; remembering the Speedball Baby era
• The push to save Mount Sinai Beth Israel on First Avenue (CBS 2 ... previously on EVG)
• Another anti-congestion pricing lawsuit is on the books, this one via a group of East Villager and LES business owners and residents led by former Councilmember Kathryn Freed (The Post ... CBS 2... amNY)
• On Suffolk Street, Bluestockings is under attack for offering basic outreach services, such as Narcan training and a bathroom (The Guardian ... A community divided Gothamist)
• How Mayor Adams played the city budget numbers (The City)
• An interview with playwright Max Wolf Friedlich, whose play "Job" started at the Connelly Theater last night (Vulture ... tickets)
• A birthday for the East 10th Street Historic District (see pic above ... and at Village Preservation)
• A feature on Francis Kite Club, the "bar and cultural forum" at 40 Avenue C (The New York Times)
• Longtime EV resident Ali Smith on her new book, which we can't wait to read — "The Ballad of Speedball Baby" (Shondaland)
• A where-to-drink-tea listicle with many East Village choices (Eater)
• Time FLIES: Christo and Amelia gear up for their 7th nesting season (Laura Goggin Photography)
• Surf's up for this beach-related film series (Point Break! Thunderball!) (Metrograph)
... and tomorrow... a book fair fundraiser at My Little Village preschool, 383 Grand St. at Seward Park...
Another conversation on music and music writing at the Tompkins Square Library branch
Photos and text by Daniel Efram
Photo: Jesse Rifkin (left) and Jack Rabid
The Tompkins Square Library continued its monthly, year-long celebration of East Village/Lower East Side music, performance, and writing with a conversation between author Jesse Rifkin ("This Must Be the Place: Music, Community, and Vanished Spaces in New York City") and music impresario Jack Rabid on Thursday night.
Rifkin's new book is a revelation. It discusses music venues that had a significant impact and delves into those that genuinely fostered a community. The book explores some of the economic conditions that made these scenes possible.
"This Must Be The Place" is a must-read for any NYC music aficionado looking to delve deeper into the circumstances behind the mythology. Rifkin, a music historian, established his credentials by operating Walk on the Wild Side Tours NYC, which he described as "walking tours for music nerds" in 2017. During the pandemic, Rifkin unexpectedly received a call from a book publisher who suggested that he author a book based on his popular tours.
In 1980, Jack Rabid started publishing The Big Takeover, a music magazine filling a void in the scene for independent music coverage. Along with his music journalism, he has DJ'd hundreds of punk and indie rock gigs in Manhattan since 1979.
Rabid's punk-rock teendom led to memorable interactions at The Mudd Club, CBGB and Max's Kansas City, among others. Some of his most notable stories include having Iggy Pop ride on his back at a show, witnessing the Bad Brains record their first album at the legendary 171A studio on Avenue A, and gaining various insights into the formation of The Beastie Boys.
The East Village in Music & Words continues on Thursday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. with a conversation between Rifkin and East Village singer-songwriter Roger Manning.
RSVP here.
The library is at 331 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Why did someone wait until today to throw away their Christmas tree from 2011?
Saturday's opening shot
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